Thursday Update

We've started a nightly routine where about 7:00, Taylor gets a bath, then she gets a little baby massage, then she eats while I read to her, then we try and go to bed on our bassinet on our own. It doesn't always work, but at least it's a routine so maybe someday she'll actually do it. She's doing pretty good sleeping at night, she's up about every 2-3 hours or so, which seems like a lot, but it's an improvement. I value my 3-5 hour stretch I get when Drew does the first feeding after he gets home. It's the part of the day I look forward to when I can have some me time, though I usually spend it catching up a few things and trying to sleep.


We went to the mall yesterday to get out of the house and get some exercise. I feel like it's kind of a catch 22 because the ride in the car usually makes her fall asleep, and then I feel like I should be home sleeping instead of out, but I was really feeling cooped up. We walked up and down the mall a couple of times, and of course she woke up and exploded her diaper. I'll be glad when we run out of these huggies, they leak like crazy! I changed her diaper and clothes in the car (that was an experience) and then came home.

I tried making her 2 month checkup appointment, but they don't have the schedule open that far yet so I have to call back at the end of next week to schedule it. Drew is still trying to find out when he can take his PT test so we can start planning our trip. A little more than a month and we'll be on our way!

One more pic:
It's a pinksplosion! She really is a kidney bean! She always seems to arch one way or another when she's sitting or sleeping, making herself into the shape of a kidney. Silly girl.
She's awake and hungry, so I'm off again!

Few more pictures

Argh! Our power was out most of the day today so I couldn't get on the computer to process photos, but I did get to some when it came back on this evening. So here they are! I have more we'll try and get done tomorrow!

Napping in her crib:


So surprised (or maybe just hungry)!! You can see her eye color is beginning to get slightly more blue than grey.
Doing one of her 3 favorite things.. sleeping! Can you guess what the other two are? She even has a double chin... yep, that's definitely our kid!

I'm off to follow in her footsteps and get some rest for tonight. I'll work on more tomorrow!

I should be sleeping

Well, Taylor is down for now, and Drew is going to give Taylor her next feeding so I should be in bed. I just wanted to give a quick update though while I had two hands.

Things are going well, she's sleeping better at night, thought not great and I'm still pretty worn out. I'll have a few good days then it catches up to me (today was one of those days). She wakes up every 2-3 hours at night which is a lot better than some babies, but I was hoping for at least a good 4 hour stretch in there somewhere. Not yet! Maybe soon. Drew has been helping out a lot by giving her the first feeding/diapers after midnight (usually around 2 or 2:30) since he's home from work and winding down during that time. Then I get up the rest of the night after that so he can get his sleep.

Today was Taylors' first real cranky day. I think she was really tired today which was odd because she slept until about 1 this afternoon except for her waking up to eat, I couldn't get her to stay awake. She was up most of the afternoon, but not happy about it. She didn't really cry but she was very whiny and seemed to constantly want to eat, so I fed her and she ate every time. Maybe a growth spurt? I hope she's in better spirits tomorrow!

We had some more fun with diapers today. She managed to poop and pee on me TWICE in one diaper change! I couldn't believe the amount of stuff that excreted from this kid! I never quite knew how far poo could shoot from a little behind either. Wow. That's some pressure. She could give Mt. St. Helen's a run for her money... maybe I should charge admission to the show? Kidding!

I took some pictures today, but I need to finish editing them so I can post them up, hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday I'll be able to get them up for you all! Tomorrow I'm also going to see if the appointment book is open yet for me to schedule Taylors 8 week appointment so we can start planning our trip back to CA. I'd like to be able to get some dates secured at least! We're getting pretty excited to come home!

I'm off to bed now, I'll post again in a day or two. I feel bad for not posting more often, but I hope you can understand!

Love to you all!

More pictures!

Our beautiful girl


Such tiny hands
Mom, all these pictures are making me cross -eyed!
I'm really tired now, can we call it a day?

What a day..

Well, it started off great. Drew and I got up to go to my 2 week post-partum check up. I'm doing fantastic and best of all.. I lost 28lbs of baby weight! I still have about 13lbs to get to my pre-pregnancy weight, but as of today I started the Weight Watchers plan for breastfeeders! So hopefully that last bit wont be TOO hard. My stitches from my small tears are doing well, and things are healing up great. I have another appointment in 4 weeks, then I should be good!

Then came the not so great part of the day. When we got home Taylor had a dirty diaper so we went to change her and it had leaked all the way up her back, yuck! So we gave her a bath.. she was screaming of course and kept tooting in the water, and then bloop she pooped in it, gross! So of course we both kind of panicked. I whipped the screaming girl out of the tub and was trying to console her and cover her before she pooped again and Drew was trying to rinse out the tub and bath sling quickly so we could finish cleaning her up. In the commotion the ring holder on the back of the sink got bumped and my wedding ring fell into the garbage disposal which neither of us noticed. A little later Drew went to clean up and ran the disposal where my rings (the 3 of them which are soldered together) got chewed to bits.

It's nobodies fault, and a complete accident in the commotion, but of course I can't stop crying about it. I guess you don't realize how attached you are to those type of things until something happens to them. Most of the stones have been recovered (Drew took apart the disposal and sifted through it), though it will need new settings. We'll probably wait a while before we look into it since I imagine I'll be taking it off a lot with the baby anyway. Most importantly, while it's sentimental and painful to lose, it is replaceable unlike husbands and babies. :)

So traumatic!

We had our two week check up today for Taylor! So far I'm less than impressed by the base pediatric unit, I think I might check and see if we HAVE to use them, or if we can get authorized for an off base pediatrician.

We went in, and the nurse called us back. We had to strip Taylor so she can be weighed and measured, she was not happy about being naked. She weighed in at 7lb 15oz (a 13oz gain from Tuesday of last week, and 5oz above her birth weight, yay!) and she measured 19in.??? I told the nurse she was 20in. at birth and she of course said that the hospital must have measured her wrong. Okay lady!

We put Taylors diaper back on and wrapped her in a blanket, then the nurse took off down the hallway (literally..Drew and I were power walking to catch her) and into the smallest exam room ever where we waited 20 minutes for the doctor. She was getting fussy and impatient while we were waiting so I fed her. The doctor finally came in and did her exam. She has a small bump on the back of her head that we noticed on Tuesday, the Doc said it's a lymph node and completely normal, it should shrink back down on its own. Also her left eye is a bit weepy and it's a clogged tear duct that should also clear up on it's own by the time she is one. She is otherwise perfect and right on track developmentally.

Next we had to go down to the lab to get her PKU test done which requires a heel stick for 4 big drops of blood. Of course all the excitement of her exam and a full belly made Taylor very sleepy so by the time we got downstairs she was passed out in my arms. They had us put a heel warmer on her foot and then 10 minutes later called us back. She was still sleeping and I had to lay her on her belly so they could poke her with a big lancet in the heel! I felt like such a horrible Mom to let them abuse my poor sleeping baby like this! She was poked and there was a few second delay before she started screaming.. luckily the blood drops were coming pretty good and it was done quickly. As soon as I had her in my arms again she was back asleep and slept the whole way home.

So all looks well, and her next appointment is her 8 week checkup. I thought it was 6 weeks, but it's not until 8. So the bad news is it looks like its going to be an additional 2 weeks before we can make it back to CA. Drew also had a PT test in March so he's going to see if he can take it in that first few days so we can leave as soon as we get the all clear from the doc.

My appointment is on Monday and I'll let you know how it's going. I did manage to get into my pre-pregnancy jeans yesterday so that makes me happy!!

And a pic...

Meet our daughter... GUMBY!

She sleeps in her papasan swing in the most interesting positions.. crazy kid! I don't know how this could possibly be comfortable!

Update!

I know my posts have been few and far between since Taylor arrived, but man if we don't spend most of the day trying to catch up on sleep! Besides the sleeping issues, things are going fantastic! She eats well, poops and pees a lot, sleeps great during the day, not so much at night.

Her umbilical cord fell off a few days ago, and I can't find it! I noticed at bedtime one night it was starting to come off. When she got up to eat it was still there, then the next time she got up, it was gone, but it's missing! It wasn't in her bassinet, wasn't in our bed, wasn't on the floor, not in her diaper. I keep waiting to step on it, but not yet... not sure how an umbilical cord can just disappear! So weird.



We have her two week check up tomorrow, and my two week check up on Monday so I'll post after both of those and let you know how things are going!

We did a family outing to the grocery store today and all was well. I was going to go with just Taylor and I, but decided I wouldn't know what to do if I was standing in the middle of the store with a shopping cart full of groceries and she got hungry and started to cry. So, I asked Drew to go with me instead so in case of emergency he can finish shopping and I could go out to the car to feed her. I imagine someday I'll have to figure it out on my own though... just not today, lol. Drew goes back to work on Monday, so we'll be on our own for my doctors appointment.. just a little freaked out!

More tomorrow!

Love to you all!

Our little angel

Did a quick little photo shoot today while Taylor was awake, just sharing the pic!

I found it!

I knew I had a scanned picture from when I was born hanging out somewhere and I found it! I just had to share how similar Taylor and I looked at birth! Head full of dark hair and our matching forehead/nose marks! I think she's going to have her Daddy's nose though, and she's got his eyebrow shape! I guess we'll see over the years.....

Pictures!

I finally managed to get some pics off my camera this evening, so I thought I'd post them real quick before I went to bed.

Daddy's First Diaper Change
First Car Ride.. Home from the Hospital!
Who is more sleepy??
3 Days Old!
I think these are my toes :)
First Bath!
All Clean..
She loves her Mommy :)

Okay, somebody is hungry so I'm off! Hope you enjoyed these!

Quick update

Sorry I haven't updated yet, but I haven't had a chance!

Taylor is doing great, we went in to get her weight and a bilirubin check for jaundice today. Still no jaundice and she's gained 8 oz from when she was discharged from the hospital, so things are going well. She has an appointment in 2 weeks for her PKU test, and full checkup.

She's nursing regularly now, but it will be a while before she's on a schedule me thinks. She tends to do most of her sleeping mid morning to early afternoon and then she's awake on and off the rest of the time. I'm not getting much sleep yet, but I try and nap when she's napping. I'm pretty exhausted.

I seem to be healing well, albeit slowly! My milk came in yesterday and it's incredibly painful. I've been doing warm compresses and we went out and bought a pump today to help relieve some of it since nursing wasn't doing the trick. I feel much lighter, but still tender. I'm not 100% sure she's latching correctly yet, she seems to have good times and bad times. We went in to talk to the lactation consultant today, but Taylor was sleeping and had just eaten before we went, so I didn't get to show her how things are going, if I'm still having difficulties towards the end of the week, she'll come out to the house on Friday and check her latching position.

I'm off for now.. I'll keep with the updates whenever possible, but they might be infrequent for a while, until we get on some sort of a routine...

She's HERE!!

Taylor Ann White
Born Friday, January 4, 2008 @ 5:28pm
Weight: 7lb 10oz
Length: 20in

Taylor’s Birth Story

We checked into the hospital just before Midnight on Thursday. They got me settled in a Labor and Delivery room and we pretty much waited around until 1:30AM when they got me hooked up to the fetal monitors and they inserted the pill to help my cervix ripen. I was scheduled to have a second pill put in at 4:30 am. I was having regular contractions every 2-3 minutes lasting over a minute each, but they weren’t very strong. About 3 AM the baby started running away from the monitor and they couldn’t get an accurate heart rate on her for about 30 minutes due to her position, so they adjusted my bed into an S shape, so I was practically standing! They were able to get a reading again, but they told me I had to stay in that position until further notice. They called my Doc who said to skip the second pill and start the Pitocin at 8AM if I haven’t had more progress.

So, after practically standing in bed (with no sleep) for several more hours, 8 AM rolled around and they came and checked, I was still only 2cm and 60% effaced. They started my Pitocin drip and my contractions immediately started getting stronger. The Doc came in around 9:30 to check on me, I was now 3 cm and 70% effaced. He broke my water (boy was that a weird and disgusting feeling) and said he’d be back to check later, and the nurses would be checking in the meantime.

About 10AM they came in and checked, I was still 3cm and 70% but my contractions were getting much stronger, and much more painful. They said it was a bit early, but I could go ahead and have my epidural if I wanted. Sure, why not? They still kept putting me back in a semi sit/standing position after each check also, so I was less than comfortable.

About 45 minutes later, the anesthesiologist came in to start the epidural. Apparently, my epidural space is small, it took him 3 tries to get it in the right spot. After the first try, he told me to lean forward more if I could so I did and I started to feel another gush of water coming and I couldn’t stop it. I was trying to warn Drew who was sitting in front of me holding my hand that more water was coming and just as I said it, it poured over the edge of the bed and splattered on to the floor. Luckily he was just out of reach to avoid getting splashed but the look on his face was pretty funny. Nothing like having no control over your bodily fluids! I had thought it was all out by that point!

My epidural finally got in, and they started my test dose. I immediately started to feel nauseous and light headed, and my blood pressure dropped to 70/40, so they turned my fluids up more and gave me another injection to bring my blood pressure up, and one for the nausea. I started to come around, and the nurse asked “do you feel that?” and I said “feel what?” thinking she was talking about her hand on my leg which I DID feel. Her and Drew both laughed and said “that was the right answer”, as apparently I was having the biggest contraction yet and I didn’t feel a thing. Wonderful!

All I have to say is I wish I could kiss the person who invented epidurals. After that I was no longer uncomfortable in my sitting position because my butt was numb, my contractions were so strong they were off the chart and they were about every 2-3 minutes, of course, I didn’t feel the pain, just the tightening.

Over the next few hours I even got some rest, no deep sleep, but I dozed off a couple of times in between checks. Somewhere in that time, we heard a poor girl in the next room screaming her head off. About that point, I was feeling pretty elated that I had decided to take the epidural after all! It took until about noon to get to 5cm and 90% effaced, but after that I started dilating quickly. A little after 4pm they came and checked and I was at 9cm and 100% effaced. About 5 minutes after they left I started to feel some pressure down below, and with each contraction I was feeling more and more, so I called the nurse and had her come in, she checked again and I was ready! She started having me push with each contraction to get the baby crowning, then she would call the doctor. After about 30 minutes crowning occurred and she told me to stop pushing . WHAT!??! Luckily Doctor Erwin was pretty quick, it was only about 3 contractions that I had to hold before he got in with the delivery nurse and the nursery staff. They got everything prepared and told me to go ahead and push with the next contraction (I was pushing in sets of 3). After 3 sets, her head was out, and one more set to get her shoulders and rest of her body out and that was it! She’s a girl (thank goodness!!). He put her on my belly and Drew cut the cord. The placenta came out about 2 minutes later and I was done! I never even broke a sweat (though I was pretty sure I was going to give myself an aneurism at some point, and Mom said she thought my eyes were going to pop out, but I think she was exaggerating).

I was pretty happy, I didn’t need an episiotomy, and I only had two minor tears (just in the skin, no muscle) on each side (not in the perineum) that the Doc put a quick stitch in. There was so much going on, phone calls to let people know she was born, Drew and I were both crying, the baby was getting cleaned up and weighed and measured. They gave her back to me and I tried to breastfeed her but she wasn’t too interested. They took her to clean her up and check her glucose and then brought her back a while later where I attempted to breastfeed again. A lactation consultant came in to help, but she still wasn’t very interested. They ended up giving her 10cc’s of glucose water to tide her over until her next feeding, which bummed me out a little, but as long as she’s healthy.

They brought her back at 2AM for a feeding, and she did fantastically! I was very proud. She eats great all night long, but during the day we have some difficulty as she just wants to sleep. She’ll wake up long enough to latch on and give a couple of good sucks, then she falls back asleep. The pediatrician and nurses seem to think she’s doing okay and getting enough to eat for now so I just need to keep trying my hardest. She passed her hearing tests, she’s not jaundice, and she’s otherwise perfect! She has what’s called an Angel’s Kiss on her forehead and nose (just like I did when I was born!) but those should fade away in time.

So that’s Taylor’s Birth Story! We’re happy to be home, though she’s been sleeping almost the whole time she’s been here so it’s almost like nothing has changed yet.. I’m sure it won’t take long for things to pick up (like tonight probably, lol).

Thank you to everybody who's been following along on this journey, and I'll continue to post here with updates and milestones. I'm glad that she's finally here with us and she's absolutely wonderful. Drew and I are both head over heels for her already.

Last pregnant post!

Well, it's almost 5pm, and we're suppose to be at the hospital at midnight. I'm getting pretty nervous! Mom took my LAST pregnancy photo tonight, so here it is!
I'm not sure if we'll have internet in the hospital or not, but I'll post as soon as possible, and Drew will be making phone calls as soon as we have a baby! While I'm nervous, I'm also very excited to finally meet the baby! I think we've had a last minute name change, but we want to see her first, so we'll give you all the details later.

Off to eat a quick bite, then we're all taking naps in preparation for what will probably be a LONG night!

Love to you all!